Outdoor view of Poetic Books

Poetic Books, a poetry-themed bookstore, is located in a quadrangle near the eastern end of Hou Yuan'ensi Alley, in the area of Nanluoguxiang, a famous tourist spot in Beijing's Dongcheng District. The independent bookstore, which specializes in retailing poetic books, functions as a "cultural club," where contemporary Chinese poets and writers can gather with friends and readers, and where they can have close communications during poetry discussions and exchanges.

"A heart without any poem in is like the barren ground having no blossom on." This sentence is printed in a piece of paper that introduces Poetic Books, the bookstore established in June 2017, to prospective customers.

Visitors to the tranquil bookstore, hidden in a hutong, will find publications — written by poets, from home or abroad — being exhibited and sold. The bookstore also organizes online and offline activities featuring various topics related to poetry. As written in the introduction, "Every day which can be a festival for poetry can be poetical itself."

Indoor view of Poetic Books

Peng Mingbang, founder of Poetic Books, has maintained his passion for poetry since he was young. In addition to managing the bookstore, he runs a company that plans the publication of books of contemporary Chinese poetry.

Peng believes a person's "spiritual world will receive influence from poems," if he or she reads poems, writes poems or participates in the publication of poems. "The influence poems leave upon our lives can be subtle, not likely to be noticed. But poems make one's life better. The more poems we read, the better our aesthetic appreciation toward beautiful things will be improved," Peng says. Because of poetry, he says he has more emotional connections with everything in nature, including the flowers, trees, grass, rain, breeze and snowflakes.

Peng established Poetic Books in 2017, the year he began sharing his passion for poetry from his quadrangle in the Chinese capital. He hopes Poetic Books is not only a store, in which people can find and purchase "poetical books," but is a place where people can learn the process of planning the publication of books "in a poetical way."

Peng describes his bookstore as "possibly the quietest bookstore in Beijing." It is perfect if he has around 20 visitors to his store each day. During the past four years, Poetic Books has been a place where Peng has met friends via poetry, and where Peng has collected touching stories about poetry and people.

Peng has had two especially remarkable experiences since he began running Poetic Books; the first occurred in October 2017, when poet and literature critic He Xiangyang released her collection of poems, Jin Se (《锦瑟》), at Poetic Books. Peng had helped He plan the publication of her book. Ahead of the ceremony, He visited Peng's bookstore to discuss the schedule and details of the event. When He was told the event would be held on October 29, she smiled. Peng later learned that date happened to be He's birthday.

A reader reads poetry at Poetic Books.

"He had just recovered from an illness. The staff of my bookstore had prepared a big birthday cake, as a surprise gift, for her. I believe the significance of holding a book release and sharing meeting with her readers was not only the formal announcement of the publication of a new book, but also meant to bring warmth to the writer and her readers' hearts," Peng says.

The second experience occurred in June 2018. Bao Zhenni, an SMA (spinal muscular atrophy) patient, had the launch of her colletion of poems, Yu Sheng (《予生》), at Poetic Books. Bao, named one of the 10 "Zhejiang Proud" personnel in 2020, has suffered from SMA since she was a little girl. When she was a toddler, her doctor said it was unlikely she would live beyond the age of four. Bao is often referred to as a "sponge baby." Despite the cruel fact she is bedridden and can move only the thumb of her right hand, Bao has never given up on her dream of "becoming a poet."

Peng remembers clearly the launch of Yu Sheng, especially when the participants communicated with Bao via video link and witnessed Bao's efforts to "create a life miracle," by living to be a teenager.

"Poetry is like a 'seed' that is taking root in our hearts. Whether we eventually can be a poet or not, we constantly absorb spiritual nutrition from the poems we read and/or write," Peng concludes.

An offline activity organized at Poetic Books

Photos Supplied by Poetic Books

 (Women of China English Monthly May 2021 issue)